1953

This experiment involved cycling some a mixture of liquid and gas environmental precursors through a closed system with an electrical discharge.

He found that the clear solution slowly turned yellow, then orange, then red.

When he examined the solution he found dicarboxylic acids and amino acids (two very stable organic compounds).

This experiment first showed that organic materials could arise from simple environmental precursors.

1953: Watson and Crick found the double helix.

1953: Sanger sequences insulin

These things are why 1953 was so important to biochemistry. And it was all possible because the manhattan project produced radioisotopes that are now used more than routinely in biochemistry experiments.

Carboxylic Acids and Amino Acids

once organic molecules are evolving, then comes metabolic intermediates like pyruvate, citrit, small, <300 AMU; these are the simplest biochemical building blocks.

these slightly larger molecules (relative to the environmental precursors) come along as this new organic material.